Democratization of higher education: academic trajectories of quota-beneficiary medical graduates from UFRJ

Abstract

More than two decades after the first affirmative action initiatives in Brazil and more than a decade after the enactment of Law No. 12.711/2012, further strengthened by Law No. 14.723/2023, Brazilian higher education has undergone transformations in its student profile. Against this backdrop, this article focuses on the dynamics surrounding the axis of “experiences and diversity in the academic environment” within a historically elitized field, namely medical education at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The study aimed to understand how social relationships and the challenges of material and symbolic retention shaped the trajectories of graduates admitted through the quota system, considering the intersections of race and class in the context of an exclusionary medical culture. Methodologically, this is a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study based on in-depth interviews with physicians who entered medical school through the quota system, analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings indicate that affirmative action policies have contributed to democratizing access to medical education. However, participants’ narratives reveal experiences of racism, expressed in both subtle and explicit forms, as well as weaknesses in institutional support, indicating that access to medical training does not eliminate the challenges associated with retention and a sense of academic belonging. The study concludes that there is a need to consolidate institutional anti-racist policies integrated with student support and assistance measures, so that the promotion of equity in medical education extends beyond the reservation of places and encompasses the structural, pedagogical, and institutional dimensions of academic culture.